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Monday, April 21, 2014

Things That Go Bump In The Night blog tour

We are kicking off the tour for Things That Go Bump In The Night. Welcome! We apologize for the delay. Our post features the newest book in Kat Kruger's YA paranormal fantasy series, The Night Has Claws (The Magdeburg Trilogy #2).The author has given us a guest post and we also have spotlighted the first book as well. I've just started reading this series and paranormal fans will want to grab ahold of this series. Add this to your TBR list because it is so good! Thanks to Fierce Ink Press. Enjoy!

Connor Lewis and Arden LaTène are experiencing a reversal of fortunes. Arden, once a prominent werewolf, has been cured against his will. As a result, he’s now considered dead by his former pack and has lost his longtime girlfriend in the mix. Connor, a newly created werewolf whose DNA has inadvertently led to the creation of the cure, now has to make some important decisions about his future and is not sure who to trust. Should he join a pack or try to go it alone?

When Connor is summoned by the Hounds of God to testify against the human scientist who developed the cure, he’s forced to choose sides. Comprised of humans bitten by werewolves, the Hounds have been the lawmakers and enforcers for hundreds of years, ensuring werewolves don’t endanger the lives of humans and exacting justice upon those who do. On the other hand, the pack werewolves have been persecuted for centuries and are seeking to tip the balance of power. Adding to his confusion is Madison Dallaire, the girl Connor has complicated feelings for, who has embarked on a path of corporate espionage.

In the second book of The Magdeburg Trilogy, Connor’s loyalties are pushed to the limits as he faces the challenges of being a modern werewolf caught in the grip of an ancient feud.

Werewolves have fascinated me for a long time but in recent years it seems like they've gone from beastly wolfman to shirtless hunk. I kind of wanted to reclaim them from this fate and add my own elements to their long history. The world of The Magdeburg Trilogy builds on the mythology that's developed over centuries but takes a major departure from the lore by leaping into the realm of science fiction. The most consistent feedback I've received about the series is that the world feels very real, that these werewolves could possibly exist. I worked *really* hard to try and achieve that. Everything was heavily researched.

The Magdeburg werewolves exist in two camps: the born and the bitten. The born turn into full-fledged wolves. It's revealed in the first book that they're actually descendants of Neanderthals who, instead of going extinct, turned into werewolves after being infected with a virus in the domesticated wolf population about 30,000 years ago.

The bitten are humans and more complicated. I took my research from two TED Talks. One by Jack Horner about the "chickenosaurus" and reactivating ancestral traits. The other was a talk by Svante Pääbo who discusses the DNA proof that early humans interbred with Neanderthals.

So that means a fragment of the European and Asian populations in humans has Neanderthal DNA. In my world that translates to two outcomes. When humans are bitten most die, but the ones with Neanderthal DNA turn into the half-beast monster of B-horror movies. Their genetic marker wouldn't have evolved in the same way as the born werewolves.

Besides all this science-y stuff, I also built a layered werewolf political system. The born werewolves have a pretty simple society much like pack wolves. The bitten, being human, are governed by the Hounds of God which is part religious and part legal (with some extreme medieval punishments thrown into the mix). And finally there's a secret human group called the Luparii who are based on a real wolfcatcher society from Charlemagne's era.

All in all, I'd like to think the world I've build is fairly unique but steeped in reality too. That said, I also have a bit of fun with the genre because this is a YA book and my lead character is a geeky gamer. There's plenty of kitsch and pop culture references. I couldn't really turn down the opportunity to use the phrase "bite me" as a double entendre. ;)

Seventeen-year-old Connor Lewis is chased by a memory. On his first day of kindergarten he bit a boy hard enough to scar the kid for life. Since then he’s been a social outcast at a New York private school.

Through an unexpected turn of good fortune, he lands a scholarship to study in Paris, where everything starts to look up. On the first day he befriends two military brats, and he may finally get a taste of what it’s like to be a normal teenager.

It doesn’t last.

His host family — an alluring young tattoo artist and her moody, handsome boyfriend — inadvertently introduce him to the underworld of werewolves where there are two types: the born and the bitten. Those born to it take the form of elegant wolves, while the latter are cursed to transform into the half-man, half-beast creatures of horror movies. The bitten rarely survive. Unfortunately, Connor is on the wanted list of a four hundred-year-old bitten human who’s searching for both a cure and a means of wiping out werewolves for good.

Connor’s loyalties are tested as he becomes embroiled in a conflict where werewolves, mad science and teen angst collide.

About the author

Kat Kruger is a freelance writer and social media consultant with a degree in public relations from Mount Saint Vincent University. The Night Has Teeth is her first novel and won the 34th Atlantic Writing Competition. She splits her time between Toronto and Halifax with her husband.